Silver Tongue
by Dante Kreisler
Summary: It's not that I enjoy being a villain. The circumstances of this universe make life unnecessarily complicated. Self-Insert OC. A/N: This is something I'm just having fun with.
1. Chapter 1

I've had this sitting around for a while now. Let me know what you think!

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No one could see her unless she wanted to be seen. She blended into the night. She left no sound, no trace, and no evidence of her footsteps and whereabouts. No one could track or catch her.

The night was hers.

Creeping up a set of metal emergency staircase alongside an old apartment, a dark figure stopped at the third window. With an easy swipe of a clawed finger, wooden window sill unlocked and slid open. A woman stepped inside a dimly lit studio room where the only inhabitant, a young teenage girl sat on a squishy couch and was typing away on a small compact laptop.

Resting a hand against her hip, the woman spoke in a velvety tone. "Hey, twerp."

The young girl continued typing away, unperturbed by the intruder.

"Catwoman," a emotionless voice answered back. Too emotionless, Catwoman noted, a trait that concerned her sometimes. She may spend her time juggling with the villains and the occasional hero, but she knew a kid in need of mental help when she saw one.

"Aw, did you miss me?" she teased as she came closer, heels lightly clicking against the old wooden floor. Her nose wrinkled when she noticed the drabby wallpaper beginning to peel.

"You seriously need to find a new place," Catwoman commented as she glanced around. In the past month that she's visited the girl, the apartment only seemed to break down more and more. Nothing was particularly in bad quality, however the apartment was simply _old_. Barely functional, affordable, but depressing.

There was a short sigh. "Cat, don't pity me, what did you really come here for?"

A flicker of a smirk passed Catwoman's face before she schooled it into sugary concern. Not for the first time, the woman considered the idea of taking the girl under her wing. The twerp was smart, too smart for her own good that it made the thief nervous for the child's well-being. The kid had a mouth on her sometimes. However, as soon as the thought came, it quickly passed like the many other instances she thought of adopting the girl. She didn't have time to babysit.

"You know me so well," she purred. "Fine, I want the social codes for Henry Duvet, a software engineer, he's that guy who-"

"-recently got almost eighty million, from a scam by thrifting a couple of cents off billions of credit accounts checked into his new website for healthcare," the girl finished.

Catwoman smiled sweetly. "Yes, and I want his-"

"-savings account number and the code for his banking wire. Just give me a couple more minutes," the girl intoned flatly.

This time, Catwoman pursed her lips, not particularly amused by how foreseeable her request seemed to the girl.

"You already knew I was going to ask." It wasn't a question.

The girl shrugged. "It was an educated guess, but your targets are a little predictable sometimes."

Catwoman made a 'tsk' sound before sauntering into the kitchen and and scoping the inside contents of the fridge. She made a mental note of approval at the sight of a balanced food pyramid sitting on the inside shelves, although the amount of food was less than she would expect of a growing kid.

"You gotta eat more, twerp," Catwoman called out.

"Mm," was the wordless reply.

"Do you have soda?"

"Bottom door shelf."

"Thanks, twerp."

Catwoman hesitated for a second when she held the can with her gloved hands. Her claws could unlock, grip, crack, tear, or scratch just about anything. But the one thing she couldn't do was pop the tab off of soft drinks, or rather, she could, but didn't have the patience to struggle for five minutes to maintain a grip on the tab instead of having her claws clack uselessly against the surface. The thief's fingers twitched on the impulse to slide out of her gloves. She never took her claws off as long as she still had the mask on her face; it was one of the golden rules for people who hid their identities.

"You can't pop the tab, can you?" Another sigh came from the couch. "If you want, I can help y-"

There was a hissing sound of releasing gas from the fridge and when the girl turned around, she saw a triumphant Catwoman holding up an opened soda can with a bare hand.

"Good job," the girl said dryly. "Okay, I've got the numbers-"

 _BAM-BAM-BAM_

Both heads snapped to the apartment door.

"THIS IS GPD, OPEN THE DOOR!"

Damn, the girl must've missed erasing her tracks on the software when she hacked, Catwoman assumed. Judging by the girl's alarmed expression, it was a rare mistake, but a costly one, nonetheless. Wasting no time, the girl clicked out of all files and windows on the laptop screen while Catwoman yanked her glove back on. The twerp was scribbling stuff on a scrap of paper that the thief couldn't see in the darkly lit room.

"Window," the young teengaer whispered fervently as the banging got louder.

" **THIS IS GPD, ONE LAST WARNING BEFORE WE BREAK THE DOOR!"**

The girl followed the burglar to the window and shoved the piece of paper into Catwoman's gloved hand. Looking down at the pencil scratches, the cat burglar wavered for a second when she saw Duvet's banking numbers and codes.

"Come with me," she said. The girl blinked and choked in surprise.

"What?"

Catwoman was surprised with herself, too.

"Come with me," Catwoman repeated impatiently. "They'll know what you can do with your laptop and they'll use you. You'll never be free if you get caught now."

The girl's shock quickly smoothed and a clouded expression took over in its stead. Catwoman had seen the girl hacking into the most sensitive information frames and how that same, blank stare would stay unfazed throughout impossible hacks. But now. The girl seemed so lost at the simple offer.

"I-," she stuttered. "I-I can't."

Was that disappointment pricking into Catwoman's conscious? Surely not. She hadn't felt her conscious in a long while.

"I mean, thanks, I really appreciate it," the girl said in a thick voice. Catwoman paused. Were those _tears_ in the twerp's eyes?

The girl let out a rattled breath. "But I can't. I promised myself that I'd face the consequences of my bad habits and I think my time is now."

Catwoman let out air through her nose and turned away. Twerp was too morally conscious for her good despite her talents in this line of business. It was a waste, but Catwoman wasn't the type to push people's personal life codes since she disliked it when others did the same to her.

"Let me know if you ever want out," Catwoman said. It was a gesture of support, something that she barely ever granted to anyone.

"Thanks again, but you really got to go," the girl responded as she slammed the window shut. Catwoman stared at the glass panel once more, before she heard door splinters exploding inside.

" **Hands up!"**

Catwoman didn't give a second glance over her shoulder as she jumped off the emergency stairs and gained distance from the apartment surrounded by flashing police cars. The kid would hold up. The girl was tough.

The girl stood at the window with hands held up, watching the dark figure jump roofs while armed people dressed in dark garments flooded the small room. To the casual eye, they would have appeared as one of the GPD task force, but these people were not police.

"Nice work," a voice said behind her.

Turning around, the girl gave a curt nod as greeting to a tall man in a silver suit strode inside the apartment, the armed platoon making way for the stranger.

"I gave her the bait," she said hollowly. "Catwoman will probably break into the bank vault in nine days."

The man chuckled. "You got Catwoman's fingerprints along the way too."

"It was a bonus. I didn't think she'd actually take her gloves off, but even if she didn't, it wasn't her prints I was aiming for."

"It's a valuable bonus," the man amended. "It's time to leave. Pack whatever you need and we're leaving tonight."

"Where are we heading?"

The man smiled. "Taipei. I'm negotiating a peace effort between Northern and Southern Rhelasia."

"Wow, I think I'll have fun seeing you try that, those two governments hate each other," the girl remarked.

"I am also supposed to be assassinated," he added.

A short laugh escaped the teenager. "Okay, yeah, I'll have fun. I'll be out with my stuff in five minutes."

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Any guesses on who's who? If you know me, you probably know one is an OC haha. #trash


	2. Taipei

What's up, I lost sleep typing this.

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"I spy with my little eye...Green Arrow's sidekick, what was his name again?"

"He calls himself 'Red Arrow' now, and apparently hasn't been seen with Green Arrow for a while," Cade responded as she swept through the security cameras. Sure enough, the ex-sidekick archer was loitering barely out of one of the camera's angle. It was annoying how well these types of people would find the visual holes in security cameras. She would bet some heavy money that his suitcase was concealing his choice weapon.

"Maybe he's trying to retire from being a sidekick."

Cheshire's amused voice crackled through the earpiece. "Sidekick, or not, he's in the way. Was this planned on your part?"

"No, just go with the flow."

"Not very reassuring."

"You yourself don't need much to allow events to play out the way they should."

"True." The pleased tone in Cheshire's short word was apparent. Cheshire liked it when techies understood fieldwork. She stripped out of her civilian get-up and put on her signature mask. Hopping onto the roof of the makeshift store, Cheshire hefted a missile launcher onto a shoulder.

"If this goes wrong..," Cheshire trailed off her sentence, leaving the threatening tone implied.

"Relax, maybe you'll get a boyfriend out of this."

Cheshire snorted and took aim when a sleek silver car drove into the cul-de-sac. "He _is_ cute."

"Request for an update when you get jailed," the girl ordered.

"Oh, I love prisons," Cheshire remarked before cutting off connection.

Cade smirked a little, turning off the microphone in the ear earpiece before typing away on her laptop. She was reclining quite comfortably on a very nicely cushioned chair in the lobby of a nice hotel in Taipei. Luthor, unsurprisingly, had left her behind for the Rhelasian Peace Summit. Mercy, the cyborg and bodyguard, had gone with Luthor. Cade wasn't bothered with being left out of the field; rather, she preferred it most of the time. It gave her headaches to think about seeing villains, superheroes, and sidekicks running around, fulfilling plots of a cartoon from another world. Clicking out of the security camera system of the Taipei's foreign embassy, she was under another assignment to register as a student to Happy Harbor High School. Cade had originally thought Luthor's order as odd, because she really didn't need education. Her previous life gave her more than enough of an educational background that she didn't need to go to school and Luthor knew this. Nonetheless, he had her put in public and private education institutions and assigned her private-tutors for whatever subject he wanted her to learn. Considering that Luthor was her legal guardian, she had taken lessons of rather uncommon topics such as stock marketing, speech and body language, superhero profiles, underground businesses, white collar crimes, the art of persuasion, industry takeovers, corporation and empire start-ups, foreign languages, and more. She's never had a particularly favorite subject, and Cade wasn't sure if she could stuff any more information in her brain after Luthor's mandatory education plan. As a result of her shuffling learning experience, she technically didn't have a high school diploma. Though it seemed redundant to go back to school, Cade unquestioningly continued following instructions.

Riffling through the student roster in the school's locked database, information she should not be privy to, Cade noticed that two interesting profiles, Megan Morse and Conner Kent. Both transfer students, they had started attending school on the same day, today. As quickly as she noted the coincidence, she also assumed that Luthor had planned all this. Luthor always had a reason for everything he did. No matter how arbitrary or random an assignment may be, there was always a reason.

"May I offer you something to drink?"

Cade looked up. The customer service employee smiled. Internally, she couldn't help but admire the practiced smile: professional, inviting, and welcoming.

"May I have a bottle of water?"

"Of course," the employee gushed. "Anything else?"

Cade tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Dried apples?"

"I will see what I can do," he promised, briskly walking away to fulfill the request. Cade lifted an impressed brow at the level of service. She always found customer service at high-end places to be outstanding. Following Lex Luthor around his business trips gave her more exposure to the environment, but Cade knew that she would never grow accustomed to amazing service. She wasn't even finished with her high school enrollment process when the employee returned with a water bottle and a packaged bag of dried apple slices in hand.

"Thank you so much," Cade thanked brightly. The employee smiled again, and went to another customer in the lobby, presumably to offer the same services. In five more minutes, Cade had successfully logged herself in the school records as a junior attending Happy Harbor High School, home of the Hornets and Bumblebees. Complete with a fake academic record of attending Happy Harbor for almost three years, she had created a fake identity with an entirely fake background. The high school had more than seven hundred students, so it wouldn't be hard for her assimilate. She would also have to do additional research on the student body's dynamics, teachers, and other qualitative information that could only be gleaned from social media, not school records.

"Calling in, techie," Cheshire's voice returned to Cade's earpiece. "I'm locked in Taipei's Main Police Department, cell 2A, Green Arrow's sidekick is supposedly coming to ask questions in about ten minutes."

Dried apple in mouth, Cade turned on her microphone setting and changed her laptop's browser to a private server. "Got it, your getaway helicopter will be at your cell wall at the same time, expect an explosion."

"Oh, how exciting, but what do I do with the sidekick?"

"Try flirting," Cade suggested while taking swig from her water bottle. She typed in the heli-request, including the police department's address and cell number, and ordering an explosion of the outer cell wall. "But please don't kill him."

"Tempting," Cheshire murmured.

"Just listen for the 'copter, hold onto something to keep you grounded, and jump. That's all I have for you, I'm killing this line," Cade said while bringing up the bluetooth signal on her laptop screen.

"Thanks, techie," the assassin purred before muting herself.

Cade used a controlled virus to eat away the connection and took out the earpiece. Packing away her laptop, water bottle, and bag of snacks, Cade crushed the bluetooth earpiece underneath the heel of her shoe before tossing it into one of the many trash cans in the lobby. She took the elevator up to her suite, mentally filing a 'to-do' list for the rest of the week. Details were essential when assimilating into a public environment. Teenagers and high school teachers were frighteningly sharp on the smallest of details, so preparation was crucial. Luckily, she already had most of what she needed to attend a public high school: a worn down backpack, regular sneakers, and regular clothes. She also would have to find a place to stay, perhaps another dingy apartment. Then she crossed out dingy apartment since those types of places tended to attract villains, superheroes, and any figures in the grey area. Cade added 'textbooks' to the list, planning to come up with a pity story to request for newly issued textbooks from teachers of the classes she picked. Paying for new textbooks wouldn't be problem as Luthor never viewed money as an issue.

Cade checked her watch, a birthday gift from Luthor. She had a flight back the States to catch in four hours, and traffic in Taipei was about spike in one hour. Mentally calculating the time intervals between packing, driving to the city's airport, and security checkpoints, Cade let out a sigh. If she had taken Luthor's offer of a private jet, then she wouldn't have to worry about missing a flight because of traffic. However she had insisted on going with economy, and she truly didn't mind. The privileges of wealth continued to bother her no matter how often Luthor used it for her benefit. Besides, going economy furthered her efforts to stay under the radar of superheroes. People would take notice of a teenager taking a private jet flight by herself, which meant some media attention. Even the smallest of media attention risked her anonymity to the public, including superheroes, so she didn't want to blow her cover over a single flight.

In less than twenty minutes, Cade was ready to leave the hotel and requested a taxi, planning to pay in cash. Barely beating traffic, the ride lasted almost an hour and security hadn't taken as long as she expected, therefore she ended up with two hours to kill in the airport. She spent a few minutes reading the latest news on the Rhelasian Peace Summit, the dramatic cover of Luthor's attempted assassination, Red Arrow's sudden appearance and involvement, and the tense debate between the South's Prime Minister Tseng and North's General Singh Manh Li. If only the head powers of split countries in her old world could be so easily gathered in one spot to discuss peace. Closing her laptop, Cade rested the back of her head against the airport seat, staring into the bright white lights on the ceiling. Briefly closing her eyes, she thought of the numerous other chores waiting for her. Cade knew that Luthor had other assignments piled for her to do. Sometimes she found the work interesting, fun even, but at the moment, she wasn't so eager. At the thought of Luthor, her mobile buzzed.

"Hello?"

"This is Mercy, Luthor wanted to confirm if all went well on your part," the cyborg said.

"There was a hitch when Red Arrow walked in, but you guys already know that, and everything else was fine," Cade stated. "Don't know if Luthor planned for the sidekick to show up, though."

"He had considered the possibility," Mercy admitted. "But he also knew that it could be used to an advantage."

Wow, Luthor had this all mapped out like a theater production. "So let me figure this out: Luthor is allowing Red Arrow to track down Cheshire, letting him see Ra's al Ghul, and deliberately putting the League of Shadows as a distraction?"

"Even better, he got Red Arrow to do 'help' with the 'conspiracy' of the assassination. He wanted Red Arrow's involvement all along," Mercy said. Scratch that, Luthor was a playwright. He wrote the script of a theater production. His foresight was out of human logistics.

"Scary," Cade muttered into her phone. "Could you also ask him if there's anything else he wants to tell me about going to school?"

"You registered already?" Surprise was evident in Mercy's voice.

Cade was equally surprised, and confused. "Is something wrong? Isn't that why he's sending me back to America?"

"No, no, Luthor will be pleased to hear this, we just weren't expecting you finish your previous assignments before that school one so quickly. He didn't want to keep you in Taipei any longer than necessary, that's all," Mercy explained hurriedly. Cade scrunched her eyebrows, feeling that something wasn't adding up. Didn't Luthor purposely ask her to register for this school specifically because of Megan Morse and Conner Kent's recent transfers?

"Was the timing off?" she carefully asked.

"No, of course not, you simply are ahead of schedule, which is good."

Mentally seeing the list of assignments that waited for her, Cade thought otherwise. Rather, she felt behind schedule. She sure didn't feel like she was ahead of life.

"Well, I'll be going to school first thing tomorrow morning, let me know if I should be accounting for something," Cade said as a farewell.

"Of course," Mercy said. "Oh, and Cade?"

"Hm?"

"Have a nice day at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Thanks."

Ending the call, Cade pocketed her mobile. High school was going to be fun; she only hoped that she would at least find it amusing. And then she remembered about the time difference between Taiwan and Rhode Island. Cade groaned.

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A/N: Fudge, I nearly forgot the words for 'quantitative' and 'qualitative' when typing this.


	3. Happy Harbor High School

Cade could feel a headache coming. And it wasn't even an hour into the start of the day.

Right after waking up and getting ready for her second week at school, Cade had turned on her small television to see the morning news, only to watch an irritating press conference. It was a press conference for one of Luthor's moderately smaller public relation branches for the LexCorp Farms, an operation that Luthor had recently started. For the most part, the operation had avoided the attention of media and science, however it seemed to be that it was gaining public traction. Cade supposed that it would have been only a matter of time before journalists would notice how LexCorp had been quietly buying acres of land in Smallville where the Farms were located. The press conference should satiate the curiosity over the Farm, however the event was not going as smoothly as it should have. A branch manager was speaking in front of the reporters, and he was not doing a good job of giving consistent details. Tripping over his words and getting flustered by the reporters' pointed questions, the poor man fumbled responses, breaking several company regulations about private and public information.

Calling Luthor's number reserved for Cade's phone calls, Mercy picked up not more than five rings later. "Yes, Cade?"

The teenager checked the name on the television screen. "Have you seen the news about Steve Jenkens, the branch manager who represented LexCorp Farms for the press conference yesterday?"

"No, we have not," Mercy said, referring 'we' to herself and Luthor. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, he's not doing a very good job keeping his mouth shut about the confidential operations of the Farm."

"Hm, I'll have someone look into it, thank you for the note, Cade," Mercy responded. "How has school been?"

Cade finished her bowl of cereal, placing it into the sink while holding her phone with the other hand. "It's been pretty entertaining, I haven't been around kids my age in a while."

"Have you made friends?"

The innocently posed question made Cade pause for a millisecond when there was a small, unsurprising realization. She let out a huff of air, but it wasn't out of exasperation.

"If Luthor wanted me to befriend Superboy and Miss Martian, he could have just put it in mission brief," Cade said. She didn't mean to sound sour, but it would have been simply nice to know that it was his intention all along.

"We didn't want to take the risk of Miss Martian's mind-reading abilities to expose you as someone on a mission," Mercy explained. "You would have also alerted us the moment you suspected her of reading your mind, and if you did, we would have pulled you out."

Cade pulled a pair of sneakers on, apartment keys in hand and school bag hanging on her shoulder. "True, I'm beginning to think that she doesn't actively read every mind she comes across."

"You speak to her often?"

"Relatively, I share a math and literature class with her, chemistry with Superboy." Grabbing a battered skateboard, she closed her apartment door behind her, making sure it was locked.

"What do you think?"

Plugging in a pair of earbuds into the only hole of the handphone, Cade began boarding the increasingly familiar route to school. She pocketed the phone, earbuds in place, feeling the wind push against her face as she dodged fire hydrants, pedestrians, and the occasional parked car. "She's chatty, in a good, friendly way, but a bit of a social try-hard, if I'm going to be mean."

The voice on the phone changed from Mercy's female tone to a masculine one. "Interesting, why do you say that?"

"Hi," Cade said as a greeting to Luthor. "Miss Martian is very much a teenage girl at heart, or at least is trying very hard to assimilate into high school. I can tell that much as someone who doesn't read minds."

Luthor listened to his protege's words with mild interest. He had been taking more attention to the Justice League's Young Justice program as of recent events since the young heroes had proven themselves of considerable trouble. Although he wouldn't go so far to say they were of the same threat as the Justice League's more experienced, skilled heroes, he could predict that their younger counterparts would become exponentially more dangerous with some more time.

"She's successfully tried out for the school's cheerleading team, actively participates in clubs, and tries to spend nearly every minute of school with her peers, enjoying teenage socializing. Miss Martian is living the teenage dream."

"And Superboy?"

Cade was now one block away from campus. "Grumpy, grunts a lot, hilariously socially awkward," she said with humor. Honestly, the Kryptonian was like a brick wall when it came to interacting with others. She couldn't blame him, considering his 'birth', since he didn't live a life that was like all other forms of life. He was a clone. Cade let out a sigh. She wasn't exactly supposed to know specifics about the Cadmus Project, but Luthor never tried to steer her away from his genetics labs, so she took the liberty of exploring whatever files she had access to related to Cadmus. Despite allowing her to do so, Luthor also never explicitly talked to her about Cadmus, something that was slightly unusual. Although the reason was never specified, Cade already had been suspecting it for some time ever since she found about Luthor's dabbling in the research of cloning. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

Luthor's voice brought her back to reality. "Like a regular teenage boy," Luthor commented amusingly. "And how often do you speak to him?"

"I have chemistry class with him, but I don't talk or even sit near him unless Miss Martian is nearby, which usually happens during lunch. We haven't really talked as much ever since she joined the cheerleading team," Cade answered. "Even less so these days, they've been missing school lately, due to missions probably."

"There will be a drive waiting for you in your mailbox today, I want you to watch the footage of recent events concerning the Young Justice."

"Will do," Cade said as she skated into Happy Harbor High School's campus. Nodding and greeting to faces that recognized her, Cade ended the phone call.

"I'm at school now, is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Try to be friends with Conner, will you? And Miss Martian too," Luthor requested. Cade refrained herself from letting another sigh, Luthor had a plan and she didn't want to burden herself with trying to figure out what it was. It was at times like this that she tells herself to simply follow her mentor's orders without questioning it deeply; it was troublesome to do so.

Cade echoed her signature phrase to accepting Luthor's commands. "Will do."

The phone call ended as she hopped off her skateboard at the front entrance. Instead of immediately entering the doors to the main building to head for homeroom, Cade took a moment to stare at the school name lettered above the tall entrance.

"Not feeling the Monday mornings, are we?"

Cade turned at the deep voice and saw a smirking Mal Duncan, arms-crossed. He was wearing another variation of his many form-fitting Superman shirts that did nothing to hide the powerful muscles underneath. He had the physiological structure that would rival members of the Young Justice, even Superboy's. Cade absentmindedly recalled how the African-American teenager also had one of the highest scores in the more advanced classes at Happy Harbor High School. He had the makings of a young hero and Cade knew from her previous life that he would become the Guardian, the Young Justice Team's mission control.

Cade allowed herself to release the sigh she had been holding in the past minute. "I can't remember the last time I've been excited for a Monday morning."

Mal chuckled as he playfully nudged her forward to the school entrance. "Hope you studied hard for the chemistry exam today."

Cade rolled her eyes and went along with the banter, following him inside the hallway to the homeroom class they shared in every morning. Unfortunately for them, homeroom was chemistry, which meant that they had an exam waiting for them first thing on a Monday morning. Such a typical Monday.

"Are you trying to threaten me? Because if you want me to get a lower score than you, you only have to ask," she drawled, hefting her skateboard at her side.

"Oh I'm not worried about you, I'm more worried about _him_ ," Mal replied. He held the door for her as they walked into homeroom.

"Ah, Conner Kent," Cade mumbled as they shared a glance at their classmate, Conner. She left her skateboard leaning against the wall next to the door rather than bringing it to her desk to prevent other students from tripping on it. They were early to homeroom, but the class was buzzing with students nervous for the upcoming exam. Teenagers were out of their seats, exchanging notes and questions, textbooks and notebooks as reference for last minute studying. Cade noticed how Mal wasn't the only one who displayed no signs of anxiety for the exam, Conner wasn't either.

Though the subject of their conversation was sitting across the room, opposite of where they stood, Conner was frowning in their direction. He probably heard every word their talk, Cade mused. At least they weren't speaking ill of him. Conner had surprised everyone with his innate knowledge of chemistry, although Cade knew it must have been due to his clone programming. She had heard how he also apparently excelled in every other subject, spitting out facts and information like an encyclopedia.

Mal taking the desk behind her own, Cade dropped her voice to a lower volume, though she knew full well Superboy was eavesdropping. "Y'know, apparently he's really good at his other classes, too."

Mal's smirk turned lopsided. "I know, he sure is full of surprises for an antisocial guy like him."

From the corner of her eye, Conner's frown deepened and his posture grew even more rigid. Cade thought that if his fists tightened any further than they were now, he'd puncture his own skin with his nails.

"We should partner with him for the upcoming chem project," Cade suggested. Mal shot her a disbelieving look, Conner mirroring the African-American teenager across the room. It was relatively well-known in the school that Mal was the only few students willing to stand up to Conner when the latter got a little hot-headed at times. Their chemistry teacher got close to heart attacks several times the past month whenever Mal and Conner had butted egos during homeroom, arguing over chemistry problems, theorems, and experiments.

Raising her hands in defense, Cade explained, "Hey, he understands chemistry a lot better than everyone else and the project requires three people per group, and you don't like it when we partner with someone who drags the team down."

"Who says I'm going to partner with you for the project?" Mal countered. "For that dumb idea, I ought to drop you and partner with someone else instead."

Cade grinned. "Sure, I'd like to see you hold your patience with another kid in this class who could barely keep up with your ideas."

Mal's broad shoulders slumped, knowing his classmate was right. Other than their chemistry teacher and, he admitted grudgingly, Conner, Cade was of the few who were able to keep up with him in class, not just in chemistry, but in other subjects also. He fondly wished that his girlfriend Karen was in his class, too, that way he, Cade, and Karen could group together for the chem project instead of with his antisocial classmate Conner.

"Fine," he muttered. "But if he turns the offer down, I'm not begging him either."

He watched as Cade got up to approach their stiff classmate. He tried to refrain from glowering as he watched the exchange that seemed to have a rocky start from the beginning. Mal personally didn't know anyone quite as likable as Cade, but even a social butterfly like her wasn't having an easy time with their brick wall-of-a-classmate. Mal examined Conner for the umpteenth time while Cade continued attempting to talk to him. Conner only carried conversations with teachers, when the teacher asked him questions, and with Megan, the other new transfer. Karen had informed him that Conner and Megan were an item, but that piece of information did nothing to deter the female population's gossip and admiration for the cold dude. Luckily for Megan, all attempts to flirt dropped flat with the new dude. Seriously, the guy was like a brick wall. Mal redirected his attention to the interaction across the room. He couldn't hear anything, but it looked like the conversation wasn't going anywhere. Mal was about to call his friend back to his side of the classroom, when something unbelievable happened.

Antisocial Conner grinned.

Frankly, it was actually a corner of his lip that was upturned to the smallest degree, but it briefly flashed pearly white teeth and it was a grin nonetheless. Mal blinked and rubbed an eye. It was gone, but the atmosphere around Conner was a lot less tense as a laughing Cade appeared to be dropping jokes. He appeared more relaxed and his body posture wasn't as hostile as his conversation with Cade prolonged. Usually Conner didn't respond to other people, but the guy even answered Cade's words, albeit they were one-word answers. Mal would even suggest that Cade was _getting along_ with him? The magical moment was discontinued when the homeroom teacher entered the room with a stack of freshly printed exams, requesting for the students to return to their seats. Mal stared at Cade as though she were something of fairy tales when she went back to her desk in front of him.

"What was that?" Mal whispered in wonder. "What did you do to make him _smile_?"

Cade took out a mechanical pencil and eraser, clearing her desk of other objects in preparation for the exam, oblivious to his wonder.

"You've never seen a guy smile before?" Cade responded tauntingly, smiling triumphantly at Mal before facing forward to the front of the classroom. Across from them, Conner Kent hid another flash of a barely perceptible smile.

* * *

Plopping down on her apartment couch, Cade placed her school bag next to her. In her hand was an envelope that had been sitting the apartment mailbox. Opening it up, a small USB drive fell out, with a letter that had the following typed message:

 _Just watch the show and take notes on their abilities. It isn't quite our time, yet._

Bringing out her personal air-gapped silver laptop, separate from the one she used for school, Cade plugged in the drive and opened its files. Inside were five video files labelled in following order: 'Belle Reve', 'India', 'Injustice League', 'Metropolis', and 'Manhattan'. Cade assumed that each file was for a different event and was about to click on 'Belle Reve' before her throw-away phone began ringing. Glancing at the screen, it was Karen, Mal's girlfriend, who was also supposed to become Bumblebee and join Young Justice in later years. Cade rubbed the back of her neck while contemplating whether she should answer the phone. Luthor had anticipated for her to meet Miss Martian and Superboy, but hadn't thought of other young teenagers who might become heroes in the future. Cade had forgotten about Mal as the next Guardian and Karen as the future Bumblebee when she first 'enrolled' as a student at Happy Harbor High School. With some guilt, she hoped that Luthor wouldn't take notice to the students she became 'friends' with at school; she'd rather minimize the level of intrusion she had on other people's lives.

Sighing for perhaps the tenth time that day, Cade picked up the phone. "Hello?"

The plucky cheerleader wasted no time in berating her. "You had better not been thinking about ignoring me!" Karen accused jokingly.

Cade chuckled on the phone as she turned back to her laptop, clicking on the video. "No, I was just a little busy, what's up?"

Karen's excited voice pierced Cade's eardrums. "I heard you made Brick Wall smile!"

Cade winced, holding the phone at a slight distance, but her eyes were still glued to the laptop screen. The video was a compilation of CCTVs, security cameras, and all other recording equipment and footages of the attempted Belle Reve prison break.

"No, I didn't," Cade refuted distractedly, her attention entirely focused on the footages of villainous prisoners, specifically those that used the element of ice. She kept a careful eye on the Terror Twins, fully aware of the real Terror Twins were locked up in another facility across the country, though it appeared that the prisoners of Belle Reve didn't know that.

"Mal told me that you were talking to him during homeroom today and that during the conversation the guy was smiling," Karen detailed. "If this is true, then I've got to hear it!"

"I think a corner of his mouth did point in the direction of a smile," Cade offered. She decided to focus on the phone call instead of splitting her attention between two tasks and paused the video the moment when Mister Freeze instigates a fight with Icicle Sr during the prisoners' lunch time.

Karen let out a short squeal, but her voice suddenly turned serious, "Wait, hold up, you weren't flirting with him, were you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Cade retorted while slouching against the couch. "Megan's his girlfriend."

"Oh good, just making sure, because y'know, half the school kind of wants to date him, but Megan's his girlfriend so we can't let that happen."

"Of course not."

There was a short pause on the phone when Karen curiously asked, "Okay, but you still have to tell me how you got Conner to grin because Megan's my girlfriend and a member of the cheerleader squad, and if he's Megan's _boyfriend_ , as captain of the cheerleading team, I want to get along with him. I can barely even get a discernible response from him."

"Again, I'm telling you that it could barely even be considered a grin, much less a smile," Cade emphasized. "But all I really did was talk to him."

Karen pleaded, "Cade, come _on_."

"I just asked normal questions, like if he was liking Happy Harbor, what he thought of chemistry, and if he had had joined a group yet for the chem project."

Karen let out a slightly surprised 'Oh'. "Wow, just like that? Wasn't he staring daggers at you?"

"I don't think he necessarily means to glare at everyone, maybe it's his natural default expression that his face has," Cade suggested. Thought it was probably, most likely, 90% true.

"Huh, that makes sense, but I still don't get how you did it," Karen laughed. "But I guess if it was going to be anyone, it would be you, Cade. You've got something special that makes people open up to you."

"I'd like to say that it's all thanks to my charming personality," Cade joked.

"Watch out for the inflated ego," Karen ribbed light-heartedly. "But seriously, I always wonder why I didn't become friends with you earlier, didn't even know you existed until nearly a month ago and now it's like you're everywhere."

"I could say the same," Cade said. The conversation was treading the somewhat delicate topic of Cade's sudden appearance at Happy Harbor High School. Most students hadn't questioned her presence when she first attending school since she successfully stayed out of the center of attention for the most part. Cade had spent the first few days making small talk with her classmates, forging loose acquaintances, until she grew more and more associated with Karen and Mal and their group of friends, which included Megan and loosely Conner.

Cade decided to change to subject. "Are you going to the Halloween Dance?"

"Yep, dressed as bumblebee."

A snort escaped from Cade. Bumblebee.

"Is something funny to you?" Karen demanded.

"Nothing, I'm just noticing that you're really into bees."

"Well, what are you dressing up as?"

"Oh, I'm not going."

"What?!"

Cade gave her ear some distance from the cell phone.

"Girl, I'm gonna be all over your ass tomorrow if you don't change your mind, right now."

"Okay, I don't think Mal would like that, but you can try."

The dead sound on the other line of the phone call told Cade that Karen had hung up. Instead of redirecting her time to the videos on the laptop, Cade stared at the apartment ceiling.

Halloween Dance. Huh.

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A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Just a warning though, expect a lot of time skips, grammar and spelling mistakes, and hastily written plots. This is all written by the fast-burning fuel of self-enjoyment. Leave a review for your thoughts! Really appreciate everything.


	4. Friend

Hello, hello, I've been on an updating roll with all of my stories!

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x

* * *

Mal Duncan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "Ugh, why isn't this problem working out?"

Conner and Cade looked up from their homework. The three were in the school library, completing homework while waiting for certain two females to finish cheerleading practice.

Conner leaned over and immediately saw what was troubling his classmate. "You calculated the 'E' thing wrong, there should be an extra zero at the end of your result."

Mal slapped his forehead and muttered a 'thanks' before returning to his chemistry homework without another word. Cade watched the interaction with an amused expression. Conner Kent and Mal Duncan getting along? This scene would have been considered unthinkable two months ago to the entire student body. Cade would like to declare that it was all due to her efforts. The first step had been getting Conner to join her and Mal for the chemistry project. Though Mal and Conner nearly argued over pointless misunderstandings the first couple of times they tried working on the project, they managed to see eye to eye under Cade's watchful presence. The three of them chugged out a worthy project that received much praise from their chemistry teacher.

Mal got to understand that Conner's silent attitude and terse words didn't mean to threaten, and Conner learned that Mal had misunderstood some of his actions. Their girlfriends Karen and Megan helped foster the new friendship, and they even went on a double date once, though Cade had heard that it was slightly awkward on Megan and Conner's part.

The real turning point of the tentative friendship was when every adult in the world had disappeared into a dimension. With Conner and Megan's help, Mal and Karen managed to run Happy Harbor High School as the base camp for all adolescents during the entire crisis. Luthor wasn't involved in the planning of that disaster, so Cade was free to alleviate the chaos in the streets by guiding all kids to the high school gym. And in the process, a level of respect grew between the two males when they realized that they could trust each other somewhat.

Today, the two couples and Cade had made plans to catch a movie after school, with Cade being the fifth wheel. Since Karen and Megan had cheerleading practice after school, the other three had no problem waiting in the school library to finish some homework. Cade thought that seeing Mal and Conner getting along was quite a sight to behold, and she smirked a little.

Conner caught her smiling at them and glared. "What?"

The grin didn't falter as Cade responded, "Nothing, I just think it's funny that you two are friends now."

Mal didn't look up from his homework when he and Conner chorused, "We're not friends."

Cade waved her hand. "Sure."

The two hard headed male students shot each other disgruntled expressions before looking away. Cade had to stifle a snort. They were so tsundere. Conner, ever perceptible at every slightest detail, glared at her with even more heat.

"Is something wrong?"

Cade made a face and gestured between the two of them vaguely.

"Nah," Cade said and continued squinting at them.

"It's just so…. _bro_ ," she managed to say. She tilted to the right when Mal flicked a pencil at her. Luckily, a savior walked in to prevent any more violence.

"We're baaack!" Karen called out in a sing-song voice. It was a good thing that the librarian was out right now, or she would have been shushed. Megan was behind her, both of them were changed out of their practice clothes and carried a sports bag along with their backpack. The rest of them quickly packed up their stuff and left the library, heading for the student parking lot. Piling all of the school bags into Mal's car trunk, the group of five shuffled into the sedan car. Karen sat in the shotgun seat, while Conner, Megan, and Cade crammed into the back row.

"So what movie are we watching?" Megan asked as Mal pulled out of school and into the main town road.

"A rom-com! It's gotten good ratings, so maybe it won't be so bad," Karen said. The Happy Harbor entertainment plaza wasn't far from its local high school, for the sole purpose of hoping to attract as many students as possible. It was a good placement, and many people visited the plaza for its green public parks, shops, farmer's markets, and restaurants. Even though it was long past the school hour, there were numerous teenagers and families milling around the area. Happy Harbor lived up to its lively name.

The movie theater wasn't exactly a theater, but an old fashioned pull up driveway with the film projected. Mal parked in a nice spot with a good view and pulled out foldable lawn chairs from the trunk with Conner's help. Cade went with Megan to the nearby food stand to buy some snacks while the others finished setting up. The two teenagers were waiting for our orders to come out when Megan cleared her throat.

"Um, Cade?"

"Hm?" Cade looked at her with a curious expression. To be completely honest, Cade's head was a little preoccupied with business from Luthor. It was turning out to be somewhat difficult to balance all of her activities and to play a regular student during the day. Though her friends' naivety made her job to befriend them easier, Cade was aware that for every precious memory they gained with her, it was going to be more painful for them to find out that she was working under Luthor's orders the entire time. Sure, she wasn't on their side, but she didn't want to emotionally damage them either. The Martian and Superboy weren't the most accustomed to social customs, so they were more likely to be hurt than anyone else on the Young Justice team.

Megan fiddled with the receipt in her hands before speaking. "It's a little late to mention it and I don't know if Conner has talked to you about it yet, but he's really thankful for what you've done for him at school."

Cade raised her eyebrows. "Really? For what?"

"You know, just helping him with getting along with our classmates," Megan said nervously. "I was worried for him when we first came here, but ever since we met you, it's been easier for Conner. He's a little unsure how to talk to others, you see."

Deciding to pry, Cade asked innocently, "Wow, you seem to really understand him. How long have you been together?"

The redhead blushed a little and stammered, "O-oh, me and Conner? I-I mean, we're not exactly in that kind of relationship, he and I, we know each other because of-"

The Martian cut herself off before she could finish the sentence. Cade tilted her head, acting a little confused at the unfinished answer although she inwardly knew that Megan had gone too close to spilling a personal detail.

"We know each other because we came from the same town," Megan amended.

"Well that's a nice coincidence, knowing someone from your old town when moving to a new school," Cade commented. "It makes the transition easier."

"Yeah, it does even though it was still pretty scary. I kind of wish I was a little more like you, Cade," Megan admitted, looking down. Cade looked at her, almost shocked at the redhead's words. It was an unexpected turn of topic.

"You're funny, nice, always optimistic, you get along with everyone and everyone likes talking to you, even Betsy."

Betsy liked her? Cade thought back to Betsy, a fickle girl from the cheerleading team. She was a good cheerleader, but wasn't quite close friends with the rest of the squad due to her quick temperament. Cade only talked to her whenever she was with Karen, but it was true that Betsy wasn't as capricious when Cade was around.

Megan trailed off her reasons, finishing with, "And you fit in."

With Megan leaving herself vulnerable, Cade silently groaned. Of course, Luthor had told her to befriend the Martian and Kryptonian Jr., but it was still a hassle to play the good part. On one hand, Cade was doing great since it was obvious that Megan had opened up to her about some insecurities. On the other hand, she was sure that the Young Justice team would be quite wrathful towards her once her cover gets blown.

She personally thought that it was dangerous that Megan was leaving herself open like this. Based off of her summarizations of the video files Luthor had sent her a while ago, Megan was actually good at acting when she was physically disguised and on a mission. However, she didn't hold up her guard outside of missions, which meant she didn't expect any threats from high school.

"Megan, if it counts, I think you're pretty incredible for coming this far," Cade said carefully. "You're new, but ever since you transferred, you've been trying to make friends not just for yourself but for Conner too, and you're really sweet and nice. You care about people. You're already fitting in."

Megan sighed. "Thanks, but it's kind of hard to explain exactly what I'm going through."

"Hey." Cade put a hand on Megan's shoulder. "You're a good friend. And if you're a friend, that means we like you for who you are."

The troubled redhead considerably brightened and smiled at that. "Thanks," she said sincerely. Not one second later, their order came through, so Cade and Megan took a box of pizza and a cup holder for five drinks back to where the rest of their group were sitting. Conner was noticeably warmer towards Cade, most likely due to him hearing the girls' entire conversation with his enhanced hearing abilities.

* * *

Cade was the first to be dropped off after the movie. She waved goodbye to the car before turning the lock to the apartment. Not soon after she walked in, her cell rang.

Luthor's voice was casual. "How's school?"

Plugging in earbuds, Cade pocketed the phone so she could move while talking. "Pretty fun, as usual."

"Miss Martian and Superboy don't suspect you yet?"

"Nope, if anything, they trust me more. I think they leave their guard down when they're at school."

Luthor sounded more interested. "Is that so? Tell me about that."

Cade pulled out some leftovers from the fridge, setting it into a microwave to warm. "Well, Conner's very slowly learning how to be a normal teenager, all thanks to me, though he's still got his quirks. Megan told me today while we were hanging out after school that he was grateful I helped him with making friends, and she said herself that she wished she were more like me."

"Very good, that is fascinating. A Martian wishing to be more like a human," Luthor chuckled. "Keep up the good work, however you can tell me more later. Your time at Happy Harbor is soon to come to end, I'm bringing you to D.C. for upcoming plans. Instructions on your academic leave are in the same assignment folder when you started this assignment. You'll receive more information once we meet."

"Got it."

"Let Mercy know when you're ready to leave Happy Harbor."

"Will do."

The call ended just in time for the microwave finish warming up her second dinner of the day. Although the pizza from the Harbor plaza had been filling, that meal had been two hours ago, and Cade was getting hungry again. Plopping on her couch with a spoon, she spooned fried rice into her mouth as stormy thoughts raced her mind.

Up until now, Luthor had kept her out of direct inclusion with his plans with The Light. Cade wasn't sure if her summon to D.C. meant that he was going to start using her for The Light, and if it was, then...

Cade put her food down at the sobering chance. Truth be told, her time as Luthor's protégé wasn't all that bad despite the fact that her mentor was more in line with the bad guys. She was fine with raising and falling stock markets, managing his companies, working as techie for the field, playing a cover, or even running some of Luthor's more illegal business practices. But to actually be involved with The Light? That was a whole different level of being bad, not to mention their later plans with the alien species, The Reach. She didn't know she'd be able to bring herself to that level. Considering her work under Luthor's orders, Cade knew she wasn't strictly on the good guy side in terms of helping the world, but everything she had done for him so far had been almost harmless to regular people. Even she had boundaries.

Cade finished her small meal, throwing the takeout box in a trash, and retrieved a folder from a locked cabinet. It was the same file she had opened in Taipei while helping Cheshire with her mission. Flipping to the last couple of pages, Cade raised an eyebrow at the detailed instructions that were longer than expected. As she read the past the part that told her to simply inform Happy Harbor High School that she was moving out of the area, to D.C., Cade furrowed her brows as she finished to the end paragraph. Putting the folder away, the teenager leaned back against the couch, staring into empty space.

Luthor was treating her like a pawn.

Cade got up and grabbed her skateboard, leaving the apartment with elbow guards, keys, earbuds, and her throwaway phone that had a decent playlist downloaded. She needed some fresh air and Happy Harbor was lined with the best beaches so going out was the logical choice. The outside view was beautiful right now too, the sun was beginning to set. If Luthor or Mercy wanted to contact her, they'd have to call the throwaway cell instead of her personal mobile and besides, they almost never called twice in one day. Boarding to a small skatepark next to a pier, Cade cranked up the volume in her earbuds connected to the phone as she leaned in to skate a bowl.

Cade didn't know any tricks or flips, but she was decent with her balance and could at least manage boarding around a skatepark. Going up and around the bowl and surrounding obstacles, Cade tried to let her mind wander as she navigated the concrete landscape.

Was she capable of what Luthor wanted her to do?

Wrong question. Of course she was capable otherwise Luthor wouldn't have given the order to her. The real question was whether she would be okay with it.

She was completely comfortable with being hidden in the background, along the sidelines. She never met any villain or hero without a cover. When she saw Dick Grayson at social functions, Cade was the daughter of a no-name, insignificant politician. When she was on communications for Cheshire or Sportsmaster, she was just a regular techie. When she met Superboy and Miss Martian at Happy Harbor High School, Cade was a regular high school student. It was easier running around this world with a cover since no one would truly know her, so there weren't strings attached.

If she showed herself with a real identity, that would mean she would actually involve herself. She wasn't too worried about the reaction she'd receive from the Young Justice team, Cade simply thought that the fact that they would know her true face was troublesome.

Reaching a flat surface, Cade hopped off the board and kicked it up in the air, catching it by the bearings and found herself slightly panting and sweaty. She decided to take a breather and sat at the edge of the skatepark, legs idly kicking air, as she watched the night sky. Crime at Happy Harbor was at an all time low, so she should be okay staying out for a bit more. Feeling the wind breeze gently against her face, Cade closed her eyes and tried to appreciate the fresh air.

Heroes. Villains. Aliens. Superpowers. Good. Evil. Justice League. Injustice League. Young Justice. The Light. The Reach.

She lied to people on a daily basis. Since when did Cade care about the world affairs?

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Thanks for reading!


	5. Plain Jane from Kansas

Fudge, it's been six months. Merry Christmas.

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Blackmailing Catwoman was one of the most resourceful things Cade had done so far. Luthor wasn't particularly interested in the cat-lady and had allowed Cade to have her way. The teenager had decided to use Catwoman like a dog, having her steal money and jewelry from all types of reserves, so Cade was now more or less "filthy rich".

Of course, Catwoman wasn't happy about being used and didn't know that her anonymous blackmailer was Cade, only that there was an unknown stranger who sent her directions through regular sterile envelopes delivered to her personal address. Cade personally thought that she was being quite lenient on the cat burglar as there could have been more difficult demands involved than regular thieving.

Thanks to Catwoman's efforts, Cade's guarded bank accounts reported six figure numbers. This was nothing compared to Lex Luthor's riches, but it was more than enough for Cade if she wanted to spend the rest of her life living in a humble abode without having to work.

Sitting in a window seat, Cade looked out of the airplane window and watched the shifting clouds and endless blue sky.

After another month of school at Happy Harbor, Cade had staged her 'farewell', bidding good-byes to Karen, Mal, Megan, Conner, and the rest of her peers at Happy Harbor High School. Stating that she was moving to a different state with her parents already gone, Cade easily filed the necessary paperwork and withdrew herself from the school. To them, it was a sad affair. Megan nearly burst into tears on Cade's last day of school while Mal and Karen were noticeably forlorn. Even Conner had seemed mildly glum when Cade said goodbye to them.

But she knew that they would all meet again when they realize the truth about her.

Landing in D.C. came with no trouble, and Cade whistled over a taxi outside the airport to take her to a seemingly random address that Luthor had sent her earlier that day. She only carried a duffle bag with her that contained the essentials of her personal belongings. Everything else in the apartment at Happy Harbor had been either trashed or burned to crisps. No evidence of her presence in Happy Harbor had been left behind. If anyone, including the Young Justice, tried to track her prints, the path would end cold. Cade had personally terminated her high school transcripts and any electronic trace of her records to make sure of it.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

The taxi driver's gravelly voice, one that sounded abused by years of tobacco, broke Cade out of her daze.

Clearing her throat, Cade said, "Yeah, this is the place, thank you."

Handing the driver the amount charged and adding a five dollar bill to the cash, she stepped out of the car and smiled when the man thanked her for the tip. Slamming the door shut, Cade waited for the taxi to drive off before hefting the duffel bag onto a shoulder and walking into the empty public park. There were a number of grey overpasses, like bridges, that stretched over a strip of green field surrounded by bushes and blooming trees. It was a location out of public eye, almost difficult to find.

Cade walked across the park under one of the many bridges, seeing no one else, until an expensive looking white car silently rolled up behind her.

A window rolling down, Cade raised an eyebrow when she saw Luthor's face in the car.

"Get in."

Without a word, Cade went around to the other side and opened the car door. Mercy, Luthor's assistant, was driving and the cyborg gave her a small smile through the rear view mirror.

Luthor skipped the usual greetings. "Don't give anything away."

Cade glanced warily at her mentor, shaking her head. "No, I won't."

"Good."

"I guess the meeting with Superboy went smoothly?" she asked curiously.

"Of course, he's on his way to investigate the possibility of another Super clone in Cadmus," Luthor answered almost smugly, clearly pleased at how successful his manipulations played out. The businessman had been in a good mood lately; a lot of The Light's recent ploys have been coming along nicely, going undetected by the Justice League.

Mercy drove and listened to the conversation as she turned the wheel to head to the busy streets of Washington D.C. The rest of their day was to be spent at a fundraising gala for genetic research. Mercy would first stop by their hotel, help Cade and Luthor get ready, and then chauffeur them to the ballroom.

* * *

"These things really suck the life out of you, don't they?"

Cade turned around with a champagne glass in her hand, seeing a grinning boy around her age behind her.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asked casually.

"It's been good, what about you?"

"Good," Cade returned, sipping her drink. Of course, it was filled with a non-alcoholic sparkling cider, not actual champagne since she was a minor. Cade did a casual glance of their surroundings.

Luthor, as rich as he already was, never would pass an opportunity to raise more money for his goals. He orchestrated this seemingly ordinary gala fundraiser for genetic research as a regular social function. A lot of well-known researchers, science affiliated corporate investors, and anyone else affiliated with the crowd were present. And that included many big names, including Bruce Wayne from Wayne Enterprise.

And his adopted son, Richard 'Dick' Grayson.

Cade's dull brown eyes briefly made contact with the billionaire's ward's piercing blue ones. She wondered if he knew about her.

She also wondered why would she concern herself over knowing whether or not he knew. Would it have made a difference?

* * *

Dick was bored. Out of his mind. Unbelievably so.

Bruce knew he really disliked stuff like this, but would still drag him out to these things anyway. Probably because then the Bat would know that at least someone else was still suffering through this too.

Dick humored an adult, a guy who was starting up a company off of his parents' money, with pleasantries and small talk for about three minutes before seizing his chance to escape the conversation. Usually at these types of events, there weren't many people around his age and Dick especially hated the adults. All they wanted from him was to get something from Bruce, as if Dick would ever let them. He was almost offended sometimes that adults expected to easily sway Bruce Wayne's own charge.

Dick briefly considered visiting the security room of the glitzy ballroom, maybe toggle with the electronics and video cameras for a bit. It might relieve him of this killer boredom that was soon to murder his brain. He edged towards one of the exit doors when one person caught his eye.

 _Oh, she's here?_ Dick thought almost excitedly. Finally, someone he could talk to without wanting to strangle them.

He approached the girl, one of similar age to himself, holding a champagne glass in one hand and fiddling with the event pamphlet in the other hand. He had to admit that she was sort of plain compared to all the other kids that came with their parents: unpainted nails, no flashy necklaces or bracelets, not a lot of makeup, and not covered head-to-toe with designer label clothes. Heck, Dick himself was fitted with a tailor-made suit, sleek dress shoes, and had a nice diamond studded watch and a silver-gold ring. In contrast, this girl never wore a precious stone bigger than a corn kernel and didn't have the same flashiness as all the others. Ever since Dick had first met her, several months ago at the annual Wayne Winter Function, she'd dress the same way every time. She would always appear a balance of modesty and refinement instead. Today she was wearing a well-fitted pale green gown, a stylish watch meant for casual wear, a simple but well-crafted ring, and tasteful earrings.

Personally, Dick thought it was better that way. He wanted to dress the same way too, but he had an image to keep up; people would start talking if he didn't dress like a billionaire's kid.

Walking up behind her, he said as his way of greeting, "These things really suck the life out of you, don't they."

She recognized him immediately, but instead of fawning over him like others would have, she replied in a relaxed manner. "Hey, how's it going?"

Dick grinned. "It's been good, what about you?"

"Good."

They had never asked for each other's names and he appreciated that. He sometimes wondered if she was this casual with him only because she didn't know who he was, but if that was the case, then Dick would rather she not know. They only became acquaintances these past few months over bonding with their mutual dislike for these types of social functions. This was probably their ninth time meeting in a setting like this. From what he could gather, her dad was a politician, maybe a senator of a flyover state, relatively fresh into politics and riding on the coattails of a recent generational trend. She was definitely new money and didn't fit in with the more well-established crowds who had pedigree and wealth, but Dick didn't care for that. He knew by firsthand that differentiating a person by their social status wasn't right, nor was it reflective of a person's true nature. It was a reason why he liked her, because she was genuinely good company to have around regardless of what she knew of him and treated him normally, like everyone else.

He had nicknamed her 'Bonnie' and would humorously refer to himself as 'Clyde' sometimes.

"Did you read the news about Queen Bee?" She started the conversation. They usually talked about politics and business and though they were mundane conversations, Dick liked talking to her about them. 'Bonnie' wasn't the chatty type, she often had some interesting opinions and had an underlying sense of dry humor while she talked.

He nodded. "Can you believe she tried to convince President Rumaan Harjavti that Qurac and Bialya used to be one country?"

The girl shook her head. "No, but I've heard crazy rumors about how she can hypnotize people into what she wants them to think and behave. She's like an upgraded monarch version of a high school 'queen b', isn't she?"

Dick had been there and witnessed the psychotic Queen Bee's power personally. The mission at Bialya was still fresh on his mind. It was kind of mind boggling that he and the Young Justice team had been there only a few weeks ago and 'Bonnie' in front of him would never know. This kind of situation was something Dick was used to, but it still caught him in a moment of some kind of harmless irony every once in a while. He'd sometimes have random memory flashes from their amnesiac experiences in the desert of Bialya a long, long time ago.

It's already been more than half a year since the Young Justice team had been formed.

Time flew, Dick reminisced.

"Hello? Earth to Dick?"

He snapped back to attention to the hand waving in his vision. He stared into the girl's face with a hard look.

"You knew who I was all this time but never mentioned it?"

'Bonnie' shrugged her shoulders. "Everyone knows who you are and you never asked for my name."

Despite the slight awkwardness of the situation, Dick let out a light chuckle. "True, I guess I could have just asked for yours. So, what's your name?"

'Bonnie' had the most ordinary smile. "Jane, nice to formally introduce myself, after four months."

The more sardonic voice side of him giggled at that. Plain Jane.

Dick took her outstretched hand with a firm handshake. "Dick, nice to finally exchange names. What year in school are you?"

"Sophomore, you?"

Huh, a bit younger than she looked. Must be because she wasn't wearing as much makeup as her other same-aged peers.

"Freshman," he returned. "I thought you were my age."

Jane still had the light-hearted smile on her face, but it turned a little tight after a minute. Her grip on the gala pamphlet got tighter and Dick was about to ask her if something was wrong when she spoke up first.

"Um, this is going to be intrusive, but, is it true that Bruce Wayne has connections to the Justice League?" Jane's voice grew more strained and quiet towards the end of the question.

Dick took a moment to study her with sharp eyes. Was Plain Jane who she really said she was? Or was she a spy? If she was a spy, then she was real good one, but rarely any spy had a time extension of more than a month to complete a mission, so was Jane innocent?

He decided to drag on the possibility. "Why does that matter?"

The corner of Jane's mouth turned down out of nervousness as she pulled out a ripped piece of lined notebook paper hidden in the folds of the pamphlet she had been holding.

"My dad's the senator of Kansas, and I _know_ ," she said almost vexed at Dick's teasing eyebrow lift when he heard the state name. "It's a state no one really thinks about, but it's exactly that reason why I'm wondering why someone would call my dad about _this_."

Jane handed Dick the folded paper, which he opened gingerly because letter bombs were a thing.

Dick tried to keep his face clear of inner thoughts, but his brows furrowed as he read the contents.

He made sure to keep his voice level. "Where did you get this information from?"

"My dad said the caller had been bothering him every day for a week now and I overhead one of the phone calls," Jane murmured. "He wouldn't do anything about it, saying it's probably someone who was hired to antagonize him in the middle of current politics, but I think it's serious, you could probably imagine."

Dick didn't say anything, but folded the paper in half and half again.

"Do you think you could do something about it?"

If he said yes to her or indicated anything that would lead her to believe that he can help, that meant there was a civilian aware of possible ties between Wayne and the Justice League and Dick couldn't let that happen.

"Interesting story, but I'm not into this sort of thing. Your dad might be right, this stuff happens to them all the time," Dick adopted his 'spoiled brat blasé' tone as he handed back the folded paper back to Jane. She looked visibly disappointed, but didn't press the matter, tucking the paper into a fold of her dress.

"Hopefully," she grimaced. "Sorry to bother you with it, I'm just a little worried. My dad's still new to the job and he could be really relaxed sometimes."

"No problem," Dick said easily. "Let me know if something actually comes out of it."

He meant that in a very polite manner, but Dick internally hoped that she would remember the statement. He steered their conversation towards politics, politely asking Jane about her father's work and views on domestic policies, but burned the contents of the paper into his memory at the same time. Dick was now itching more than ever to leave the place. He planned on spending the rest of the night delving even deeper into Cadmus Lab files once he got back to the manor. It seemed that there were still some underground operations occurring without the League's permission, something that both the Young Justice team and the League had missed during their first examination of Cadmus.

He also needed to figure out why the mysterious caller would contact Jane's father, a senator of Kansas, of all people. Was it because that anonymous tipper knew that the senator's daughter had been in acquaintance with him? Or was the Kansas senator part of something? And did Jane know of all this, or was she truly innocent from everything?

Dick was willing to bet his money on the latter. There was no way Jane knew about the more darker, intricate nature of politics and superhero-villain conflicts. She was clever, more so than most people in the ballroom, he'd give her that, but she gave off such a civilian-based personality that he thought it'd be impossible that someone like her could be involved in something like this.

 _Plain Jane from Kansas_ , he thought critically. He studied the girl's face once more. She wasn't stunningly pretty, especially in this glamorous crowd, so she really seemed plain and a little out of place. But she had the whole next-door-neighbor-gal kind of vibe going instead, Jane would stand out in a normal civilian mob. He should get more information out of her, ask to hang out sometime.

"Want to exchange numbers?"

In a way, Plain Jane from Kansas had a nice, normal ring to it. Dick could use more normal in his life.

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Usual drabble-like stuff, I have a vague idea of where this story will go. Thanks for being patient, hope you enjoy the read! I'm on winter break, so hopefully I'll chug out a chapter for each story (lol, that would be a Christmas miracle, though it's already a miracle that I even got a chapter done).


	6. Phone Calls, a Painting, and a Headache

I have a chapter finished wowowowowow

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x

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Even though she had moved away from Happy Harbor, that didn't mean Cade had cut off contact from her old high school classmates. Or rather, it was that the people from Happy Harbor High who would continuously pester her even though she had moved away. If it were up to her, she would have simply stopped interacting with them, but Karen and Mal weren't easy to shake off.

Karen demanded biweekly calls and monthly video chats, Mal would join in the conversations occasionally. Sometimes, Cade would even see Megan and Conner's faces if the video chat happened during school hours. They were a troublesome bunch, Karen especially, Cade thought. Troublesome as in they made her personal circumstances a bit more difficult. In another situation, Cade would have enjoyed having such dedicated friends. They just didn't know that she was with Luthor, or that she was aware of their superhuman secrets, or that she was actually helping the enemies. The longer she held up the act of a 'friend', the more they were going to be hurt. They might even hate her.

And she didn't want that. They didn't deserve to dragged along on this disgustingly fake relationship that she had fabricated between them.

Cade stared at the fake phone at arm's reach that was supposed to buzz any moment. She was currently in her room, sitting at her plain work desk. When she wasn't running around completing her assignments, she lived in Luthor's penthouse at the heart of Metropolis; the glowing LexCorp skyscraping building could be seen across the city from the floor to ceiling windows of her room. Because it was only the early afternoon on a normal Sunday, Cade could see nothing out of order down in the city below her gaze. The sun was perfectly sunny, lighting up her room without the need of electricity.

With a countdown of five seconds, her hand hovered over the phone, almost anxious to hurry up and get the incoming phone call over with. She knew she had been pushing off their scheduled calls in the last week, and Karen, being the incredibly perceptive she was, would probably suspect that something was up if Cade cancelled the call again. Right on time, Karen's name flashed on the display. Cade purposely waited for two vibration patterns to pass before picking it up and answering.

"'Sup," she said casually.

"How's it going!" Karen's boisterous voice traveled through the connection.

The lowered volume did nothing to hide the liveliness in Karen's tone. Unfortunately, the sound also pierced Cade's eardrums. Cade winced. She never learned her lesson to keep the phone at a distance from her ear.

"I'm good," Cade tried to hide the pain in her voice and rubbed the temples of her forehead. "How about you?"

"Everything's hunky-dory," Karen chimed. "Mal's having an easy time getting the first rank of our year in school since you're not here although Conner is becoming a close second. He became next in line as the captain of the football team, by the way! Also, Meg is getting so good at baking, she brought these amazing snickerdoodle cookies to school the other day and -ohmygoodness- I _completely_ forgot to tell you, a senior asked her out on a date almost a week ago! He was pretty cute, but the dude got scared off by Conner, like, right after asking her out, so nothing happened after that, but it was super funny. Speaking of Mr. Brick Wall, he's his usual grumpy self, scowling at everything that moves or breathes in front of him. Did you know Catherine had a crush on him?"

Mal-cookies-Meg-date-Betsy-what?

Caught off-guard by the sudden information dump, Karen's chatter went through one ear and out the other without Cade properly registering the words.

A pause.

"What's hunky-dory supposed to mean?"

"Is that the only thing you heard?" Karen yelled through the line.

Cade almost dropped the phone. "No, ma'am!"

"So did you or did you not know about Betsy Jone's crush on Brick Wall?" The cheerleader captain interrogated.

"Yes, I knew Betsy had a crush on him!"

"You knew?!" Karen gasped. "And you didn't tell _me_?"

She sounded so betrayed that Cade had to fight a grin from forming on her lips.

"I thought you knew," Cade said apologetically.

"It's _Betsy Jones_ , she doesn't tell anyone anything and it's your job to tell me these types of things," she responded accusingly. "You're always the first to know everything!"

Cade played along with Karen's dramatic antics. "I am?"

"Yes, girl, I keep telling you that as Queen Bee, I _need_ to know," Karen almost whined. "How did you know about Catherine's crush?"

"Oh, she, uh, told me," she answered without thought.

Cade could hear Karen's jaw drop through the phone line.

"When did she tell you," she said in a hushed voice.

"About a week before I moved." It was probably the wrong thing to say.

Karen's voice was dangerously soft, like the calm before the storm. "So you've known for almost a month."

"Okay, again, I thought you already kn-"

"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!"

Cade flinched. She held the phone away from her face, knowing full well that Karen had launched into an outraged rant, and waited for the other girl's ire to abate before returning it to her ear.

"Sorry."

"Auughhhhhh," Karen let out a sound of frustration. "Well, it must be nice to be so easily trusted. Everyone tells you their secrets."

Cade laughed, but it sounded bitter to her ears. "I guess."

Karen had no idea how ironic that statement was to Cade. The cheerleader initiated a change of topic, previous topic quickly forgotten. Cade tried her best to pay attention, however her mind was split between the phone call with Karen and the second cell phone that sat at her left. It looked more expensive than the one she used for her time at Happy Harbor which was a simple flip phone; the second one appeared more like what a rich kid would get: a standard sleek, fully touch screen, silver device.

She was expecting the Wayne heir to call soon.

"Alright, well, besides that physics test, school hasn't been so bad. We just miss you."

Cade had blanked out.

"Yeah, miss you guys too," the words slipped out easily like oil. Slick, liquid gold with shallow worth that only damaged the environment.

"You need to come back to Happy Harbor for a visit, you know. Maybe during the summer?" Karen suggested.

Cade made effort to force false-cheer into her voice. "Yeah, that would be awesome."

"Alright, good talk, I need to go now! Sorry, it was just me ranting this entire phone call, but next time you'll be the one talking, okay?" Karen's tone was unmistakably chipper. The Happy Harbor teen couldn't see Cade's conflicted expression.

"Sure, sure, until next time."

The phone call ended, leaving Cade emotionally exhausted. She rubbed her left shoulder, trying to massage the tight knots in the muscles.

There wasn't much time left until Luthor's plan.

Cade gathered the papers in front of her, sorting them into folders, each labelled with a name. They were typed data and case studies from the months spent at Happy Harbor, all written by her. She was nearly finished with the most recent assignment: constructing profiles on each of the Young Justice members. Luthor was expecting her evaluation reports from the footage he had sent her months ago, the recordings of the Young Justice from the incidents at Belle Reve, India, Metropolis, Manhattan, and their fights with the Injustice League. Her main goal at Happy Harbor had been intended to study Conner and Megan. The Flash's mini, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy, and Robin had all been around long enough for Luthor to know enough about. He was now interested in the new additions of superhero sidekicks: his test tube Superman clone Superboy and the unexpected Miss Martian.

She pulled out Megan's folder and rifled through the contents. There was basic information, like the Martian's actual birthday, real age, and standard physical appearance as a human and Martian. Of course, she was hiding her true appearance as a Martian, but no one knew about a Martian's real physical body as a white spindly, spider-like, alien structure. Even Martian Manhunter never showed his actual Martian form publicly, only to select members of the Justice League, which meant that the entire world was ignorant about a Martian's true form. It was one of the several things that she kept from Luthor.

As she went over the reports and analysis of Miss Martian, Cade thought that perhaps her critique of the Megan was a bit too harsh compared the rest of the Young Justice members. Cheerful, considerate, and good at heart, Miss Martian overall was quite balanced when it came to her strengths, teamwork, and skills, but she was naive, inexperienced and overly-pleasing due to her lack of confidence and discrimination from her home planet. Miss Martian was mentally insecure, which was kind of ironic, considering her psychic powers. Her need to please the people around her was her weak point, and if, in the future, her confidence failed to properly develop, then she'd become overly-confident to the point of crossing ethical boundaries. Which was what had happened in the future, when Miss Martian mentally tortured Kroloteans for information. Cade hated over-confident people, especially people who over-compensated for their poor self-esteem.

Luthor wouldn't like that her personal beliefs prevented an unbiased report, Cade knew. She'd have to revise certain parts of the Martian's file to clear out any partiality.

The expensive silver phone buzzed, the caller ID flashing the name 'Dick'.

Without hesitation, Cade answered it. "Hello?"

"Jane! What are you up to?"

"Nothing, just doing homework," Cade answered in a wry tone while scanning the documents in her other hand. Papers that had confidential information on the Young Justice teenagers, homework, courtesy of Luthor.

"How about you?"

Cade heard Dick sigh on the receiver. "Same, I'm studying for a pre-calculus test tomorrow."

"Good luck, are you having a tough time?"

"Nah, it'll be a breeze."

If Cade hadn't known about Richard Grayson's dual identities, she doubted if she would have suspected his secret. The Wayne heir was just as tricky as his mentor, Bruce Wayne.

"Oh, um, just asking, but when's the next time you'll be in the upper east coast?"

Another meet up? Cade wondered if Dick enjoyed her company that much the last time they spent time together.

About a month ago, after seeing each other at Luthor's gala fundraiser, they had hung out throughout next day in D.C. before leaving the city. Looking back, it seemed like Dick had genuinely hanging out with her since he kept contacting her after that day, being the one who asked to exchange numbers.

"I don't know, I don't always follow my dad on his business trips." While saying so, Cade double-checked her phone caller location. Instead of Metropolis, where she was actually residing, her phone showed Topeka, Kansas. It was a standard hidden location encryption, along with the basic land code phone number in order continue the ruse of Jane, daughter of a faceless senator from Kansas.

She could detect a faint trace of disappointment in the boy's tone. "Just let me know the next time you're around."

"Yeah, yeah, like I could just fly up anytime I wanted," Cade grumbled audibly.

"Why not? Get a business ticket instead of first class if you have to." Dick's oblivious question screamed of casual wealth.

"Because not everyone can buy a business class plane ticket anytime time they want, much less a first class, Dick."

"You can't? Isn't your dad funded by lobbyists and stuff?"

"Yes, but that would be considered a misuse of campaign funds."

"Right, right, I forgot your dad cares about that sort of stuff, it explains why Lex Luthor likes him so much. Come to think of it, I always saw you at Luthor related events."

The breach of topic of the silver-tongued businessman with the golden reputation didn't faze her.

"Yeah, but Luthor is being careful to not show my dad too much favoritism. Then it'll look bad," she said lightly.

"True, it's nice to know that there's some honest people around who handle their money carefully, although I think Luthor is uptight, I-"

"Dick?"

Cade heard a rustle and indistinct voices overlapping from the receiver.

Dick's hurried voice returned to the speaker. "Sorry, my butler was calling me, I gotta go now."

"It's okay, I'll talk to you later."

"Sorry for cutting the call short and Igottagobye!"

Cade breathed a sigh of relief now that the phone call with the Wayne heir was over with.

She was hoping that she could have several minutes of silence in order to recollect her thoughts when a third, unfamiliar ringtone startled her.

Cade tilted her head back and released a prolonged exasperated sigh.

"What is it now," she muttered to herself as she searched for the source of the sound. Its volume was turned up to the max, filling the small room with its nonstop high-pitched sound. It wasn't the Happy Harbor phone, nor the one she used to converse with the Wayne brat. She patted down her body, pulling out every single electronic device that she was carrying with her; there was one in her pants, one in her jacket, and a bluetooth hidden in a sleeve. Cade grumbled to herself when she couldn't immediately locate the phone, the alarm sound was starting to really irritate her.

"Where the fu-"

Suddenly seized with extreme annoyance, the teenager raided her room. Kicking a chair out of the way, Cade went over to the rack where she kept her jackets and bags. She searched through every pocket, throwing the jackets down once they were thoroughly checked, and shook the bags upside down, letting their contents clatter to the floor.

In total, Cade counted sixteen spare devices that she had in her possession for various purposes. She was currently using some of them, but most weren't properly functioning, simply inactive and dead. There was a pile of miscellaneous items on the floor now, a mess growing from the disorganized search.

She finally found the ringing phone in the last jacket left on the rack.

"Of course it's in the last place I look at," Cade seethed. When she finally held it in her hand, she glared at the display; it was a phone that she had forgotten to completely wipe after using it. Cade frowned when she saw that the screen showed that the number was blocked.

It was probably Luthor. Probably to remind her that she forgot to erase a phone number.

She pressed the button to receive the call. "Hello?"

Cade made strong effort to keep the frustration out of her voice.

"Cade, I see you found your old phone," Lex Luthor said in his infuriatingly mildly calculating tone.

Her lack of response was enough for Luthor to know that Cade was in a foul mood.

"You weren't responding to your first phone, so Mercy found this one phone number instead."

Cade rubbed her eyes. Crap. The phone that kept her in contact with Luthor and Mercy had run out of batteries and she had forgotten to charge it. So that's why Luthor called this seventeenth phone.

"Sorry, it was careless."

"Please erase this phone number when you have the time."

"Of course."

"Do you have the files on the Young Justice ready?"

Cade glanced at the piles of messy paper on her desk.

"Yes." Nah.

"Mercy and I will be in Metropolis in an hour or so, I want to be briefed on each member when I get back."

"Will do."

Luthor ended the call when the conversation ended nonverbally.

Cade spent the next twenty minutes after the call organizing the papers for the Young Justice files and quickly reviewing them in preparation for Luthor's arrival. The sudden emotional outburst when she had been searching for the third phone had disturbed her. She hadn't lost her cool like that in a long, long time.

Once done with the documents, a loud grumbling erupted from her stomach. Cade rubbed her torso, walking out of her room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen area. The penthouse wasn't ridiculously large, but it was still spacious enough that Cade thought it was a waste of money. With smooth dark mahogany wooden floors, silver interior designs, and furnished with metallic appliances and items, the entire place was suited for Luthor's tastes.

That man had far too big of an ego, Cade thought as she walked past a large painting framed in an elaborate golden woodwork. It was her favorite painting, one done by John Singer Sargent, of two children holding lanterns and facing each other, surrounded by a green garden of lilies, carnations, and roses. She personally thought that the two children were merely reflections of each other, an impenetrable mirror or glass between the two figures. Seemingly identical, but different. The hair might be the same color, the eyes could be seen as the same if kept in the dark, faces of the similar ambiguous ethnicity, and skin that could be described as pale but touched with sun. But, in the end, not the same. Not the same person.

Cade caught herself staring at the portrait and tore her gaze away. Luthor only that big of a head because he believed there was no other human who could compare to him. It was a bitter thought, but Cade half-heartedly also believed it, too. No human could beat Luthor in a battle of schemes and wit.

She opened the kitchen refrigerator, hoping to cook something up with the groceries or leftovers. Although Luthor never cooked, Mercy did and so did Cade, so the secretary kept the kitchen well-stocked with utensils and food. Her stomach was empty and she felt hungry, but as Cade looked into the shelves and drawers, unable to come to a decision with what to eat, she realized that she didn't have an appetite. Cade kept the refrigerator doors open, staring heatedly at the inner contents. She was unbelievably hungry, but didn't feel like eating.

It was probably some stress getting to her, Cade thought as she closed the doors. Maybe at ten minutes or so, she could find it in herself to eat something.

* * *

Cade had to stop a smile from slipping through her blank face when her bank account reported the results of Catwoman's latest haul.

She's outdone herself, Cade cheerfully noted. She scanned her laptop screen that showed the wired transfer of 5 million dollars in her secure vault.

Lately, Cade has been ordering Catwoman to target new money executive companies, specifically hands-off CEOs who wouldn't notice a couple thousand dollars deducting from their annual income every month. The amount stolen from each individual was relatively small, but it accumulated when it was more than a hundred bank accounts. There were plenty of millionaires in this world. The entire plan had been a slightly long-term operation; Cade would investigate the banking information of each target and find out the location of each individual's private server. Then she would send all the information to Catwoman who would have to go through the trouble of breaking into each place's highest security office to install a program that would allow a drop of money to leak every day. And the digital money would be filed into an offshore account where it would stay 'disappeared' until the end of the year, magically appearing in Cade's own bank. It's been a pretty decent endeavor.

Cade rubbed the area next to the stomach under her right rib cage. That spot has been hurting a lot lately, specifically her liver, with a piercing pain which would explain why she's been so empty headed the last thirty hours. It felt slightly swollen, too. She probably needed a blood transfusion sometime soon. Cade raised her hand to eye level, examining her skin which has been changing slightly in color. Her normal skin tone was a pale warm, but it looked like a sickly yellow. Cade passed off the color due to the dark room and night lights.

Redirecting her attention to the computer screen, Cade decided to reward Catwoman since they had been doing so well lately. Out of the stolen money, she wired back ten thousand dollars and included a cheeky note of "- as a little thanks for everything so far -" into the statement. Frankly, the gesture was more than generous on Cade's part. With control over Catwoman's identity and fingerprints, other people would have exploited her to do anything and done much less than returning a small share of the profit. But, Cade was only using the burglar for regular thieving. Luthor himself had commented on how Cade was too lax.

Catwoman preferred stealing sparkly items, like jewelry or bejeweled relics, but Cade liked old fashioned cold silver, gold bars, and hard cash.

"Jade? You should be asleep."

Cade turned around and saw Mercy coming of the shadowed hallway.

"You guys are late," she returned.

The secretary had called earlier that day, around dinner time, that she and Luthor were going to be returning to Metropolis later than scheduled, delayed by an estimated two hours. However, those two hours and unexpectedly turned into a ridiculous twelve hour hold up due to a rare inner corporation mishap. Luthor, stronger than he looked, was fine with returning to Metropolis at three in the morning instead of staying the night in Chicago. Mercy hadn't called Cade of the development, hoping that the teenager would have gone to bed instead of waiting for them, but her suspicions told her that it was unlikely. Her suspicions had been confirmed when entered the penthouse and found the teenager sitting on the living room couch. Luthor was in his study, a floor below, for some other business and had let Mercy go up a floor to check on Cade.

Almost all of the curtains were hanging down except for one window that remained uncovered, casting a mix of the city and moon lights on to half of the room, where Cade sat.

"Still, you should have gone to sleep without waiting for us," Mercy returned, taking off her blazer.

"I can't sleep," Cade told the cyborg secretary as she redirected her gaze to the white screen in front of her. It was the half-truth. Honestly, she was extremely sleepy and she could feel her brain and body demanding reset, but her mind wouldn't stop buzzing. To Cade's annoyance, the time of four-thirty in the morning glared back. Why did time have to a concept?

"Do you want the sleeping pills?"

The younger teenager shook her head. "No, I'd rather not eat the pills."

Cade pressed a hand against her forehead, regretting the head movement. The head shaking had disoriented her badly.

Attempting to ignore the headache, she said, "Luthor might ask for the Young Justice briefing right now, so I should wait until he gets here. Is he in his study?"

Mercy nodded an affirmative, but pursed her lips at the refusal and obvious sight of Cade in pain. Over the years of raising Cade, this abnormal sleeping pattern wasn't unusual for Luthor's protégé. It was worse, when she had been younger as a child, but had gotten better with age, but bouts of insomnia seemed to afflict the girl time to time. Tonight was the fifth night in a row that Cade hasn't gone to sleep in a normal fashion. If this goes on for one full week, she'd have to report to Luthor.

"Then please stop looking at your laptop. The screen strains your eyes," Mercy compromised. The secretary folded her arms across her chest in an authoritative manner, expecting to be listened.

"Who cares if the screen strains my eyes," Cade muttered.

Mercy almost frowned at the rebellious attitude. "It's not good for your vision, Cade, be reasonable."

Cade gave her a hard look before acquiescing, closing the device and putting it to the side. She sunk into the couch cushions as she leaned back, staring at the high ceiling.

"Go to sleep when you can, Cade," Mercy said. The cyborg was about to turn around and return to her bedroom when she found it strange that Cade hadn't responded to her words. Even in her grumpiest moods, Cade always responded to Mercy and Luthor.

"Cade?"

A little concerned, Mercy stepped closer to the couch. The secretary relaxed when she saw Cade appearing to be dozing off, it seemed the teenager was already asleep. Mercy walked around the piece of furniture to gently carry the girl back to bed so that Cade was remain sleeping. But when she came closer, Mercy's eyes narrowed as she examined Cade's complexion. Comparing her own skin with the tone of the girl's, the cyborg noticed that the pigmentation didn't look healthy, more like a sickly patient from a hospital. With a jolt, Mercy shook Cade's shoulders, waking her up.

"Cade, wake up," the secretary demanded, almost in an urgent tone.

"I'm tired," Cade groaned, cracking her eyes open. "Mercy, what are you-"

The cyborg took hold of Cade's face and delicately lifted an eyelid with a thumb, peering into the whites of the girl's eyes. Next to Cade's light brown pupils, the white part was tinged with pasty yellow. Mercy's mouth tightened into a grim line. Yellow tinged skin and eyeballs were a sign of jaundice.

"Have you been eating?"

Cade's mouth twisted with regret. "No, didn't have the appetite."

"Are you hurting anywhere? Any abdominal pains? Around the stomach?" Mercy demanded.

Cade unconsciously touched the right side of her body and nodded. "Since yesterday."

"Do you think you know which organ?"

The teenager sighed. "Liver. I was thinking of getting a blood test or transfusion tomorrow. I was feeling light-headed all day."

Alarm bells started ringing in the secretary's head. "We're going to Cadmus."

A bitter taste climbed up Cade's throat. She was most likely sick. Again. And she hadn't noticed the severity.

Not objecting Mercy's observations, Cade rose to her feet, wobbling when a wave of nausea hit her head and made her stumble forwards. Bile rose from the stomach, but Cade slapped a hand over her mouth, stubbornly determined to fight down the vomit. She breathed deeply in and out through the nose, attempting to reorient herself before standing up once more.

But the moment of careful rest didn't help. Once she was back on her feet, a suffocating wave of exhaustion consumed her mind and she couldn't control her legs anymore.

Cade saw Mercy's panic-stricken face before blacking out.

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It's rough, but I wanted to post. Thanks for reading and for being patient with the drabbles!

I starts finals this week, wish me luck.


	7. Clone

Wow. I'm back.

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 _"Are you hurting anywhere? Any abdominal pains? Around the stomach?" Mercy demanded._

 _Cade unconsciously touched the right side of her body and nodded. "Since yesterday."_

 _"Do you think you know which organ?"_

 _The teenager sighed. "Liver. I was thinking of getting a blood test or transfusion tomorrow. I was feeling light-headed all day."_

 _Alarm bells started ringing in the secretary's head. "We're going to Cadmus."_

 _A bitter taste climbed up Cade's throat. She was most likely sick. Again. And she hadn't noticed the severity._

 _Not objecting Mercy's observations, Cade rose to her feet, wobbling when a wave of nausea hit her head and made her stumble forwards. Bile rose from the stomach, but Cade slapped a hand over her mouth, stubbornly determined to fight down the vomit. She breathed deeply in and out through the nose, attempting to reorient herself before standing up once more._

 _But the moment of careful rest didn't help. Once she was back on her feet, a suffocating wave of exhaustion consumed her mind and she couldn't control her legs anymore._

 _Cade saw Mercy's panic-stricken face before blacking out._

* * *

Cadmus was all about biological cloning.

The lab's ultimate goal was to complete their understanding of alien biology and possibly even become a master of control over its sequencing.

However, before attempting alien DNA, and before cloning the Kryptonian DNA into their Superboy, and before even approaching any form of alien biology, Cadmus had to start from the beginning: humans. They had to ground out all the mysteries in the human body before starting on aliens. It was logical, afterall, how could scientists hope to understand alien biology if they couldn't fully master the biology of their own species? The ultimate proof of achieving complete command over human biology would be through cloning.

The scientists first tried to replicate their own species and they began that monumental mission by trying to construct a fetus from scratch. They had failed many times, but with an endless cycle of fervent research, experimenting, testing, and mountains of stress, Cadmus achieved the biological genome for a human baby.

And then the next huge step was growing their fetuses. It was hard, delicate, difficult work to analyze each fluid pod and monitor each one. Each fetus wouldn't survive past the incubation stage, none would last longer than seven months. If a pod did last longer than seven months, then it was missing important parts. A limb or a joint. An organ. The brainstem. Or sometimes there would be no brain at all. No face. Or a deformed eye.

It was absolutely distasteful.

The most despicable part was deciding what to do with the failures.

Throw them away? Or, should the scientists continue to grow them? But, until what point? Until how long do they allow these pods of human mass to live? How do they decide which ones get to stay in the tubes and which ones should be disposed of?

It was daunting and draining work. Their human genome formula was perfected, but actually implementing the process of constructing a living being was entirely different matter altogether. It was as if every tiny fetus gave up on living before it could grow past a certain mark. They had the technology and the resources to make the most precise measurements for each fetus tube, but none would become successful. Morals were challenged every day. Many scientists quit after a few months, unable to unsee the deformed fetus lifeforms daily. There were memory alterations involved every time there was a turnover of researchers; Cadmus couldn't afford the general public to discover what was occurring in their own laboratories. What would the people say, if they were to learn that Cadmus was experimenting with human life?

The scientists of Cadmus racked their brains every hour. What was the secret key? What were the precise measurements of nutrients needed to facilitate the growth of a fetus into a pod baby? What amount of neurogenesis was the perfect amount? Would it be possible to override biological evolution that adapted the human baby to grow inside a womb? Why did the arms grow for Pod #439 and not for #441 if the environment conditions were perfectly identical? How were they supposed to balance cerebrospinal fluid and water in order to facilitate brainstem growth without causing water brain cavities in the future, but not stunt physical development?

Even if a pod lived past the incubation stage, not all of the 'babies' survived past one year outside a sterile environment. Many succumbed to simple diseases, infections, or illnesses. Some immune systems weren't strong enough, or their brain development wouldn't keep up with a natural born toddler. Cadmus were beginning to lose hope until finally and unexpectedly, they watched the weak Pod #764725 grow older than the fated one year. It was their greatest breakthrough, and they were afraid it would cease to breathe any moment.

It lived for eleven months outside of the incubation period and then with utmost care, they transitioned its environment carefully so that no physical or biological harm would come to it. They assigned a brainwashed wet nurse to take care of it like a regular baby in the laboratory. One scientist was especially assigned as the main observer who would also monitor #764725's health and mental growth.

The baby grew up into a toddler, no longer needing a wet nurse. Two scientists acted as its surrogate parents, acting like a father and mother, but observing it at the same time.

They codenamed the baby girl 'Meira', which meant 'to give light', because she was living proof of the Cadmus scientists' efforts.

* * *

 _ **-Meira-**_

She gasped and surged upwards.

She couldn't feel anything at first. And then something tugged. It was her skin. Stuff was attached to her skin.

Tubes. So many tubes. And needles.

"Cade, can you hear me? Cade-"

That was Mercy. The cyborg. Luthor's secretary.

Lex Luthor, the billionaire.

He was part of The Light. An organization of villains. From the television show _Young Justice_. That existed. In her first life. She had a first life. She had been happy. She had a family and friends. A different life. A normal, lively, peaceful life.

This wasn't her body.

She was an abomination. A mound of flesh.

"Cade? We need you to focus."

There's a hand in front of her. Waving. Trying to get her attention.

"Cade?"

Cade….that was her. She was Cade. She _is_ Cade.

Blink. Breathe again.

What was her real name. A sliver of fear struck inside. The memories were getting harder to recall. They weren't as fresh. Living differently for fifteen years made it difficult to hold onto the past.

She felt sad.

She gasped a second time. It felt nice, so she did it again. And again.

And again.

Again.

Was air always this nice?

Again.

"Cade, stop, you're hyperventilating."

Perhaps tone down the breathing.

A pause.

And now she forgot how to breathe.

"Cade? Focus on me-"

That voice sounded so far away. She was trying to remember how to breathe, dang it, she didn't need distractions-

" _ **Meira. Good afternoon, how are you today?**_ "

Something inside her mind snapped. She bit her lip hard to stop the ingrained reflex response and the pain flared. That really woke her up. Cadmus had done their best to take out the biological programming, but the human brain wasn't so easily fixed. The remnants of brainwashing remained.

Cade blinked once and the world suddenly sharpened in color and sensations. She was breathing normally now.

Bright lights above, metal floor and walls, she was lying down in a hospital bed. Thin white sheets. The bed was cushioned. She felt stiff. Her body ached. Mercy was sitting next to her.

People were talking in the background. They weren't alone in the hospital room.

Cade forced herself to pay attention to her surroundings. It was tiring, but she strained.

And then she realized that they weren't in a hospital.

"Cade?" It was Mercy, again.

"My name isn't Meira." Voice sounded like gravel. Felt like it too.

Her neck muscles creaked, but Cade looked at Mercy in the eyes. Her light brown eyes, usually sharp and attentive, were empty pits and tired. There was a sense of animalistic desperation clawing its way out of Cade's eyes, but Mercy could see the girl suppressing the raw emotions. The cyborg looked back almost sympathetically.

"You know I hate it when you use that greeting with that name," Cade whispered hoarsely.

It was more than a greeting and name, it was a code. A program drilled into her psyche. It demanded for her attention, her freedom of mind, her control. It meant that a part of her was less human and more machine. Scientists could choose to implant her brain with anything they wanted.

It reminded her that she was created.

"I know, Cade, I know, but you don't respond to anything else when you blank out like that," Mercy consoled.

The teenager looked down, examining herself. Cade was wearing a gown similar to that of a hospital patient, IV tubes and other needles were connected across her body. When regular humans became sick, they would go to a hospital, but when Cade got sick, she went to Sublevel 38 of Cadmus. Sublevel 38 had been dedicated to human biology and cloning fifteen years ago, but now it was just a space that Cade went to for health problems.

The place was like a miniature hospital, complete with every medical equipment a doctor would need to fully examine a patient from head to toe. The bright fluorescent lights on the ceiling burned Cade's eyes. There weren't many scientists around, only half a dozen milling around, probably taking a break from working on the other sublevels and came here because it was quiet. Her bed was in a separate, closed off space hidden away from prying eyes.

Cade had mixed feelings about this place. Cadmus, her….birthplace. The scientists here at first had adored her, she was their living proof of their scientific breakthrough in the history of biology. And because they had achieved the landmark of cloning a human, they went on to the next goal of aliens. Soon enough, she wasn't of interest anymore; they knew how to successfully clone humans and could do it anytime now. She became an old project, a finished experiment. She didn't have more use to the scientists who had to meet their next deadline of copying Kryptonian DNA. Cade would have been stuck in Sublevel 38, imprisoned to stay below ground level for the rest of her life without seeing an inch of sunlight if Luthor hadn't taken an interest in her.

"So what was it?" Cade questioned. "My liver?"

"Liver failure, from acetaminophen overdose," Mercy answered. "Did you take any painkillers before you passed out?"

Cade frowned. "Yeah, I ate three pills the day before, I was having a killer headache."

The cyborg sighed. "Cade, you know you're supposed to check with the scientists here in Cadmus if you're going to take any medication, it's-"

The girl weakly waved a hand. The movement tugged on the tubes. "It's not safe, I get it, but my head was hurting really bad and three pills wasn't supposed to-"

"You risked an organ for a headache, you can't just swallow any pills-"

"They were normal pharmacy pills-"

"The last time you ate store bought medicine, your kidney shrunk-"

"It felt like a migraine-"

Mercy threw up her hands. "You can't get migraines, Cade!"

The teenager paused. "Wait, I can't?"

The question hung in the air.

The cyborg crossed her arms. "You know the answer to that."

Cade sullenly tore her gaze away from Mercy and stared straight ahead. She wanted to rip out the tubes and get some fresh air, this sublevel was suffocating her.

"When can I get out of here?" Cade mumbled.

"We just have to get a scientists to check on you and you'll be good to go," the secretary answered.

It didn't take long for Mercy to wave over a scientist. The person was a pseudo-doctor in a way, almost every researcher here was with their level of biological understanding, and scanned Cade's heart, brain, and blood monitors before systematically preparing Cade to leave the bed. The scientist-doctor carefully removed each needle and pressed bandaids against Cade's skin until there were at least one or two clear stickers on each limb and three on her torso.

Cade held back a hiss of pain when she moved to get off the bed. Her joints were sore and stiff, and the parts where there had been tubes attached felt badly bruised; her stomach area felt especially tender. Mercy held out a bag of clothes to change into which Cade gratefully accepted, muttering thanks before pulling a curtain around herself so she could change out of the hospital gown.

Once Cade gingerly stripped off the blue gown, she was about to pull on her undergarments when she saw her torso.

Cade lifted her hands and dropped them at her sides in disbelief.

"Mercy?" she called out from behind the curtain. Cade tried hard to sound like she's not getting strangled.

The secretary's concerned voice answered, "What's wrong? Do the clothes not fit? I'm sure I got them in your size."

"No, it's not that," Cade began to count her breathing. Four seconds to breathe in, hold, four seconds to breathe out. Don't panic.

"What is it?"

"Mercy, why do I have stitches across the side of my stomach?"

Cade delicately traced the bumpy sutures and the meshed skin next to her stomach, her mouth forming a tight line. They didn't look fresh. In fact, it looked like they had completely healed, however it didn't feel like they had healed. Cadmus must have sped up the skin stitching process. The stitches didn't hurt, but the entire area faintly ached.

Great. If she was assuming correctly, she had gotten a transplant.

"Ah, you got a liver transplant." Mercy sounded only a little apologetic.

Cade tried to not slap a hand over her eyes. "And you didn't think it important enough to let me know before I see the scars for myself?"

"It's your punishment for not being more careful. This is the fourth time this happened because of your lack of caution."

Cade swallowed hard, closing her eyes and forcing herself to mentally accept it. It was true, this wasn't the first time she had to switch out an organ. There were three other scars across her torso of past surgical operations. One for when she had sudden lung failure, the second when her stomach acid began burning a hole in her stomach, and the third was her kidney. She finished changing and pulled back the curtains. As she tugged on socks and pulled on her old worn sneakers, she noticed that the clothes Mercy had chosen were loose, especially around the hip area. It was an oversized long-sleeved plain grey shirt with baggy trouser pants. It was most likely so that there wouldn't be any pressure around her waist to bother the skin.

"I read somewhere that the average hospital stay for a patient recovering from a liver transplant is two to three weeks," Cade said wryly. "I don't think it's been two to three weeks, has it?"

"No, three days have passed since you blacked out."

"Shouldn't I stay here for a bit then?"

"That's true for normal humans," Mercy contradicted. "You're not normal and Cadmus has patched you up enough to be released today."

The cyborg secretary marched away towards the high express elevator, fully expecting Cade to follow.

"No, I suppose I'm not," the teenager muttered under her breath. She followed without another word of complaint.

"Of course, you're subjected to strict bed rest for the next few days and you'll be taking several antibiotics and other specific medications to maintain your recovery," the secretary explained as the elevator doors closed. "Luthor put a standstill to all of your assignments, so he expects you to fully focus on healing for the entirety of this week."

The elevator lurched upwards, moving up with such startling speed that Cade lifted a hand to her lips, suppressing the nausea. Riding a high express elevator so soon after a liver transplant surgery wasn't ideal.

Mercy noticed. "Bear with it for just a little more, Cade."

All was relatively smooth after they got out of the elevator. The pair of them walked to the garage where Mercy had parked a sleek black car. The secretary only used the silver limousine for Luthor which had become a trademark vehicle that the public easily recognized. Inside the car, Cade sat in the shotgun seat, clipping in her seatbelt.

"When you say I have to be in 'strict bed rest', how strict did the doctor say?"

"No sudden movements, absolutely no physical exercise for the next few days, don't eat anything spicy or too rich, and don't tire yourself out. Also, please note that Luthor wasn't pleased about you disregarding your body conditions."

Cade winced at that last bit. Luthor not being pleased meant that he was almost angry. The billionaire never got angry in general maybe put off, a little frustrated, or exasperated, but never angry. 'Not pleased' was as close to anger as he was ever going to get.

The secretary continued, "He expects you to consult Cadmus any time you need medical attention, now including consultations on medications or other pharmacy pills. He would like it very much if you refrained from allowing this to happen again."

"How come Luthor isn't the one lecturing me about this?" Cade asked curiously.

Usually if she stepped out of line that threatened her safety or health, Luthor would be the one to properly reprimand her.

"He has business to take care of," was the cyborg's clipped reply.

The teenager mindlessly stared out of the car window, watching the traffic, trees, and people zoom by. If Luthor couldn't talk to her himself, that meant whatever 'business' he was dealing with was about The Light. The billionaire would have easily pushed aside any other business matter if he had to scold her.

The fact that Luthor prioritized Cade over his corporation would sound sweet to other people. It was the man's way of showing how much he valued her life. However, it wasn't affection, Cade knew. His care for her was similar to how a rich man would care for his rare, unique items.

Cade was the first of her 'kind', before any other clones. A human made completely out of scraps. The scientists of Cadmus Sublevel 38 had chosen how to design every single cell on her body; her hair, eye color and shape, skin, height, genetic make up had been all decided by them. The result was a teenage girl whose features were 'ethnically ambiguous'. They weren't so worried about her psyche because they only wanted to know how to build a human. The development of the human mind was a later concern, however to everyone's surprise, Pod #764725 had a will of its own from an early age. It (she) asked questions. She was naturally curious and acted like a human despite its 'birth'. Of course, Pod #764725 was by no means similar to a real human in mannerisms and personality; Cadmus psychologists determined Pod #764725 as clinically abnormal, but they could easily count that towards the circumstances of her environment and development.

The only reason why Cade was able to step out of Sublevel 38 was because Luthor wanted to see her for himself after seeing the reports. He had been intrigued by the existence of a fully constructed human that seemed to be functioning quite well. Ordinary human logic would have predicted mental instability, clinical insanity, or lack of any presence of psyche.

But that wasn't case.

Because Cade, _**Meira**_ , even as a clone, was an abnormality. From the moment she had opened her eyes, she knew the truth about herself.

The drive back to the penthouse was quick and quiet. Mercy took care of home affairs and walked Cade to her bedroom, watching like a hawk and stressing the importance of bed rest.

"If there are any indicators that you used electricity or did something else other than resting, Luthor will place restrictions on your freedom," she warned.

"So, I could be grounded?" Cade mused.

"Exactly."

The threat sounded less intimidating that way.

"Luthor would like for you to halt business with Catwoman until you fully recover."

Cade settled into her bed, her body demanding rest. The cyborg secretary was still talking, but the words were going in one ear and out the other. Currently, she could care less to listen. She wanted to just have some quiet.

"-I'll be back later in the evening to check on you, I expect you to still be sleeping by then. Rest up."

The teenager smiled wryly as Mercy closed the bedroom door, though the loose smile slipped away once she was alone.

 _ **Meira-**_

 _ **-a miracle-**_

 _ **-our pride and joy-**_

Cade shivered and closed her eyes, trying to release the tension built in her body.

Maybe this unfortunate health incident had some good timing. She could really use a week's worth of doing nothing.

* * *

Luthor visited her the next day. After several passive-aggressive and pointed remarks about her lack of caution over her body, the billionaire went straight to business.

"I've been supplying Superboy with genetic repressor patches, called 'Shields', ever since I revealed to him his parentage."

Cade refrained from rolling her eyes. Parentage. As if Superboy considered Luthor as a father.

"I'd like for you to make contact with him and loosely reveal your connection with Cadmus to him. Mercy will send you the detailed case instructions and objectives."

The teenager raised her brows.

"May I speak my mind?"

Luthor smiled his confident smile. "Please do, Cade, you know I always welcome other people's insights."

You welcome them because it gives you information about they think, Cade thought sardonically.

Luthor didn't actually care about people's feelings in the same way how an average person would. He only cared about knowing how other people think because it helped him learn how to manipulate those people.

"I believe this will only cause the opposite effect that you want, it'll push Superboy away from taking your side."

The man chuckled. "Cade, I'm not worried about hurting feelings, you know that."

Cade lowered eyes. "Yeah. It was just a thought."

Of course, Luthor was a Machiavellian through and through.

And he expected her to be the same way.

* * *

x

* * *

A very late bomb drop.

Oh man, readers, thank you so much for reading and for your patience! Hope you have a nice day.


End file.
